Frankie Carchedi explained some of the secrets behind Marc Márquez’s thrilling victory at Phillip Island, especially after a tense start to the race when the ‘tear-off’ (visor protection plastic) that the rider removed got stuck in the front wheel and caused some commotion at the start.
The Gresini Racing rider’s crew chief revealed to TNT Sports, quoted on Motosan, that the incident completely changed the race plan: ‘We had a strategy, but the ‘tear-off’ changed everything. You can’t write a script for this. MotoGP is like that, anything can happen’.
Márquez, who started from the front row of the grid, faced a dangerous situation but was able to manage the unexpected and during the race, the team noticed that #93 was riding differently: ‘The plan was to save tires and attack at the end, but the first lap was decisive. When he got behind Pecco [Bagnaia], he started taking the corners differently. In the final moments of the race, he rode in a way we hadn’t seen all weekend,’ Carchedi observed.
Márquez’s victory was an example of resilience and adaptation to unforeseen circumstances, precisely something that Ducati officials said to be one of the factors that led to the choice of the rider to be on the factory team in 2025.